A few months ago we gave you some movies we loved, but were almost embarrassed to say so with our guilty pleasures list. Today we’re flipping that script and going with some films we hate but everyone else seems to be head over heels for. Our general criteria was originally anything in IMDb’s top 250. However, since the lowest rated movie on that list is still an 8.0, we were a little more lenient and went with anything over a 7.5 IMDb rating.

Maybe ‘hate’ is a strong word. I can hear my daddy voice kicking in now… “we don’t say hate sweetie, you just don’t like it.” We should be a little nicer, right? People worked hard on these films and, after all, a lot of you probably like these movies and may be offended that we don’t. Forget that, we’re all adults here, we hate these stinkin’ movies!

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Nate: Reservoir Dogs

I know, film fans. I know. If you’re a film connoisseur then you’re supposed to love this movie. It made AFI’s Top 10 best gangster movies. It made Empire magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Films of All Time. This is the film that invented nonlinear storytelling (wrong, Kubrick did it first). This is the film that has such edgy dialogue and a brilliantly edited, slow-motion walk in the opening credits. Nope! There’s so much I can’t stand about this movie but the worst for me is where Tim Roth (a.k.a. Mr. Orange) has to rehearse and then later tell an anecdote as part of his cover. This has got to be the longest story ever told in the history of cinema. By the time it’s over we’re all wishing Mr. Blonde would slice our ears off! And that’s only one of a host of problems I have with this movie: the acting is awful, the dialogue is so contrived, and the timing of everyone’s lines sounds so choppy and unnatural it’s like listening to Abbot and Costello reading Who’s on First? In my opinion, this movie is a stinker from start to finish.

Two other critically acclaimed films that almost made my stinker list (for relatively the same reasons): Fargo (Dont’cha know?!) and The Hudsucker Proxy (no thank you, Tim Robbins!).

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Gene: American Beauty

There’s not much worse in the movie review world than when a film is lauded as a “deep psychological drama”, and a “revealing and honest look at the American life”, and upon seeing it you’re left with immense dissatisfaction. For what it’s worth, I thought the acting was fine. In fact I find myself naturally inclined to like anything Kevin Spacey is in. The dialogue was bearable albeit quite far-fetched in parts. What I hated about American Beauty was the message in general. People screw up, I get it. People make royally terrible decisions, I know. But they try to make it right. They try to correct mistakes. They try… and none of the characters in American Beauty ever tried, even once, to reconcile with one another and make anything right. Instead we have a continued downward spiral from all parties involved with no redemption to speak of whatsoever. In the end [spoilers] I don’t even care who killed the dad, or that the dad was killed at all. The movie gave me no reason to root for this man or anyone else for that matter. And this is supposed to be a reflection on what “really” happens, and the “dirty secrets” we would find in middle class America if we just looked a little closer? Give me a break.

Honorable mentions: The Prestige – still pretending to be the best magician movie out in 2006. Gran Torino – Don’t completely hate it, but an 8.2 on IMDb and higher than the likes of A Beautiful Mind and Million Dollar Baby??? C’mon man!

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Elliott: Batman (1989)

Recently I had the opportunity to watch the 1989 version of Batman, with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Like many movies from the 80’s, this movie hasn’t aged well. I’ve never had any desire to watch the old batman movies, but a coworker told me I had to at least watch this one and give him my opinion. As I suspected it was horrible cheesy. The opening fight scene shows Batman standing in the background out of sight of the thugs. He slowly moves closer and closer. Wow, was this a horrible scene. Unfortunately, it was the first of many bad scenes. Aside from that, I found the Joker (Nicholson) incredibly annoying. I’d much rather have a dark, gritty Heath Joker, than this version. Needless to say, this was the first and last time I will watch this version of Batman.

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Tres: The Departed

It’s difficult to rate a movie as something I hate, when so many people rank it as great. So here goes, IMDb’s # 46 at an 8.5 The Departed. I could NOT stand this movie. Such a fantastic cast, except Alec Baldwin, and equal film time for each. It amazes me that such a piece of rubbish made it to a top position out of all the movies in the world. The language, the horrible story line, the show of life being lived as self-gratification and filth, and the fact that in 10 minutes I knew how the movie was ending, made this total junk for me. So many guys I have talked to and read their blogs and they “love this movie” and have it in their top ten. For me, a waste of my time. I’ve never had a desire to ever see this movie a second time. Not only would I not spend money to ever watch this movie again, I wouldn’t take it even if someone offered it to me for free.

Honorable mentions: American Beauty is anything that what the title indicates. A disgusting man who wants to take advantage of a teenage girl. 2001: A Space Odyssey just bores me; I can’t get into it at all. Unforgiven was one of the biggest disappointments of 92 for me. I have always been a Clint Eastwood western fan. I was stoked for a new one. LAME! The whole reason the characters come out of retirement has to be one of the dumbest reasons to seek revenge I have ever seen!

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Logan: Avatar

I was one of the few people on this planet who didn’t see James Cameron’s Avatar in theaters. I was interested, but just never took the time to see it. So after hearing people raving about how it was one of the best films ever, I had high expectations going into it. But what I found was overrated, thinly veiled and preachy propaganda that made up for a lousy script with big name actors and billions of dollars in CGI. The film basically tells us how evil white settlers are, except putting it on a different planet and the Native Americans are now blue. I’m not saying I necessarily disagree with the sentiment, but it was preachy without being interesting, and at the end of the movie the CGI was the only thing I found remotely interesting in the torturously predictable film.

Honorable mentions: Titanic – I didn’t set out to hate on James Cameron. Really. But I cannot like this movie (and this is coming from the guy who loves A Walk to Remember, so this is not an anti-romance thing). For starters, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth as the first PG-13 film to let full frontal nudity through. Secondly, Leonardo DiCaprio. Thirdly, the last half of the movie seems to be more about running around having sex on a boat than about a very significant historical moment. And for that matter, why make a Titanic movie about love anyway? How about we start with “Not even God can sink this ship.” Or make it a disaster film? Nope. Let’s make it about sex.

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Feel free to rip on us a bit for these, but do tell… what are some movies that you hated that most people love???

I haven’t seen Reservoir Dogs nor The Departed but they’re not really my cup of tea. I think generally the violent films that are well-loved by people are not my forte, so I stay away from ’em. The one I can think of that I’m not terribly fond of is The Hurt Locker, but I wouldn’t say I hate it, that’s too strong a word. The latest film I didn’t really care for (though I appreciate the performances) is Inside Llewyn Davis.

Actually, totally agree with most of these (except for the ones I haven’t actually seen). The movie I can’t stand that everyone loves: Atonement. This movie was rubbish. It was supposed to be an epic love story, but there was nothing there except one night of sex. And blaming it all on a young girl who didn’t understand what was going on? Lame. Besides that, it was so boring I could barely make it through the movie.

The Prestige as an honorable mention of hate?!?! I just….*sigh*. How dare you, Gene Gosewehr. 😉
I still think it’s one of Nolan’s best. I’ll get back to you on what’s my hated film. Need to think on it.

I was on board with it until the reveal, which is sorta funny on my part I guess. A magician movie which employs actual magic and that’s what I don’t like 🙂 It just got to that point and [spoilers] we learn the dude seriously, literally clones himself because…. electricity! C’mon.

Aaron, on behalf of the rest of us over at Let There Be Movies I apologize for Gene’s hate speech against The Prestige. You’re absolutely right, it is one of Nolan’s best. The rest of us are pitching in so we can get Gene the help he needs.

“Titanic” was a movie about “sex”? There was ONE sex scene in 3 hours! The full frontal nudity was very vague and was when Jack was sketching. Logan makes this sound like “Last Tango in Paris” or something. lol. If you didn’t like the fictional love story, that’s fine, and if you hate the film that’s fine, as well, but let’s not act like it was 3 hours of ongoing sex scenes. That’s grossly inaccurate.

As far as “Avatar” you missed out when you passed this at the theater. It was intended to be seen in 3D on the IMAX screen. You can’t really judge this film like ones who watched on the IMAX. There’s absolutely no comparison. Unlike other 3D releases, this was specifically DESIGNED for 3D. James Cameron spent more than a decade on this. He knows what he’s doing. I know you think you can form an opinion in 2D on your flat screen, and in 99% of other films I’d agree, but this is that exception to the rule. The graphics are like nothing else we’ve ever seen. Even if you didn’t care for the storyline, the graphics make up for it. You missed out. But when Avatar 2 comes out, GO TO THE THEATER and watch on IMAX 3D.

I didn’t like Reservoir Dogs, either. This little indie garnered a ton of attention after Pulp Fiction exploded, and so I rented it and watched it, but it didn’t grab me like Pulp Fiction. PF was great. RD not so much.

American Beauty sucked! LOL. I always thought it was soooo dumb! They tried to make it so deep and artsy and it was just garbage that basically tried to convey mankind are nothing more than animals with no self-control and incapable of making good decisions.

I thought The Prestige was dull.

Gran Torino was decent, but nothing spectacular. Definitely not better than A Beautiful Mind or Million Dollar Baby; when I first read your comment I thought you added “A Beautiful Mind” and “Million Dollar Baby” to your overrated list and I was going to debate you, but then after a second read I realized you were saying they were better than GT. I agree with all your sentiments.

Yes. Good description of American Beauty. Eastwood was about the only good thing going for Gran Torino. I’ve often wondered why he settled for the actors he did in that. Could’ve been solid but pretty terrible delivery of dialogue. Thanks for the comment!

I kept complaining to my friend all through Gran Torino how bad of an actor that asian kid was; he was terrible. lol. The movie was still good though, but definitely not IMDB top 250. My 2 favorite movies Dumb & Dumber and Sling Blade are not even on that list.

What kind of church do you belong to that allows its members to smoke crack? You need deliverance!

Gene, pray for this man.

Okay, I guess I should elaborate. “The Departed” was so good b/c of the way it dialed-up the tension. The uneasiness immaculately created by Scorsese when Jack’s character looked at Leo. In nearly every scene you were just waiting for Leo to get busted and the script clearly establishes just how dire that would prove to be if Leo were caught.

And then in addition you had the tension between Matt Damon and Leo trying to find one another out, and that was fun to watch, as well.

I find it hard to believe that you knew in “10 minutes” the way everything would play out. So, you knew Jack’s character was a CIA informant 10 minutes in? If so, you need to be writing movie scripts! lol.

I agree w/ your other thoughts, though. I haven’t seen “2001” or “Unforgiven” b/c they just look incredibly dull. I may check out “2001” someday just for myself, though. I doubt I’ll like it, but maybe I’ll be surprised.

I think you’ve been spoiled by Nolan’s immaculate vision of Batman. If you had seen Burton’s Batman a while ago before Nolan’s version came out you probably would have liked it better. Nolan’s tale is superior, but Burton’s vision was grand for 1989. Keaton was a great Bruce Wayne and Jack was an awesome Joker. Nolan’s gritty Joker trumps Jack’s silly Joker, but Jack was still creepy and effective.

Ha Ha. I think your right. I was telling the guys that if I had watched it back when I was a kid I probably would have liked it. I’m sure it was great back in the day. Now that I’m older and not at all attached to Batman, it just came off as super cheesy.

HOW did this film get so much praise? It was sooooo predictable! I couldn’t even finish it. I could tell you everything that was going to happen simply by watching the trailer – and after seeing so much positive feedback I gave it a go and everything happened just as I thought and I didn’t need to see anymore after about the 40 minute mark. I don’t get it. It’s a processed coming of age tale that we’ve already seen a dozen times before, only John Hughes told it better.

2. Good Fellas

It was okay, but nothing spectacular. I actually preferred “Casino”.

3. Star Wars

Never seen a single Star Wars movie. They all look so dorky!! lol. And dull.

4. Harry Potter

Never watched a Harry Potter film, either; for the exact same reasons listed above.

5. Lord of the Rings

I thought “The Two Towers” was good and paced very well – but parts 1 and 3 dragged. I thought part 1 was pretty average and didn’t want to watch part 2 until someone talked me into it. I gave it a chance and liked it; i then got excited for part 3 only to be majorly disappointed. What a let down! You’re not supposed to make your middle part interesting and then tank on the conclusion.

6. The Hangover

I watched it once and thought it was okay. I chuckled a handful of times, but nothing really cracked me up or anything. But then people started talking crazy and saying it was better than “Dumb & Dumber”! LOL. This doesn’t come close to D&D. People must be smoking crack with Tres.

7. Skyfall

Skyfall SUCKED! “Casino Royale” was not only the best Bond movie of all time, but it is in my top 10 favorite movies of all time! It was immaculate! I would rank it up there with “Dark Knight”. It’s just THAT good! But then “Skyfall” came out and reverted the Bond franchise back to Pierce Brosnan cheesiness! The komodo dragon scene!? That was a joke, right??? How about at the end when Bond shot down a helicopter with a single shotgun! LOL. Or when M TURNED ON HER FLASHLIGHT when hiding out in the field from Bardem’s villain character! LOL. Yeah, I’m sure a freakin’ SECRET AGENT wouldn’t know better than to turn on a device that would make her spottable when trying to flee from a villain on your trail coming to kill you! LOL. Based on expectations, this movie had to be one of the biggest letdowns of all time for me. It was a joke. If I wanted that I’d watch “Golden Eye”.

Oh my! Well, I’ll spare you my rants on those picks. I’m sure the other guys will spew forth their wrath on you. Hahaha. I will say I’m with you on The Hamgover. Also, I’ll need you to turn in your movie-fan card for not having seen a SINGLE Star Wars film! Lol.

I wouldn’t consider the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboots nerdy at all. They’re very well done. Nothing campy or nerdy at all. Any inclusions of things purely for the fan-boys is very subtle. You should check them out. I’ve got high hopes of what he’ll do with Star Wars.

I was just talking tongue-in-cheek. lol. But I really don’t like sci-fi. Combine that with Chris Pine and I really don’t want to watch. I can’t stand Chris Pine. He’s overrated and I just get this arrogant vibe from him.

Think about this:

What movie has Chris Pine ever been in where people go to watch simply b/c Chris Pine is in it?

None! At least none that I’m aware of.

People go to watch Star Trek who are fans of the franchise; had they cast a more interesting Captain Kirk I would have considered giving it a chance.

But I’m not sitting through 2 hours of Chris Pine.

Honestly, I cannot recall watching a single one of his movies. I can’t stand the sight of him. Denzel is my favorite actor and I can’t even bring myself to watch “Unstoppable” b/c of Chris Pine.

The only way I’d ever watch Chris Pine in anything was if he was in a film with a highly intriguing plot, and thus far he hasn’t been in any interesting films.

The new Star Trek films feel like Hollywood imitating the original. I don’t know. I just have 0 interest in watching.

Sir, I demand that you remove Star Wars and the Harry Potter series from your list. First off I’m appalled that you haven’t seen a single movie from either series. You didin’t follow the rules…You’re only allowed to judge movies you’ve seen. 😉
As much as I love the LOTR movies, I do understand it’s not everyone cup of tea. Skyfall, well I really liked it, but it’s really the only bond movie I like, so it doesn’t bother me that you didin’t like it…..But really Star Wars and HP!!!!!!! Those are some of my all time favorites. I’ve only met a few people in my life that have never seen a star wars movie and I’ve never trusted their judgement…. 😉

I agree I can’t truly comment on Star Wars and Harry Potter since I haven’t watched, but as popular as they may be I just can’t bring myself to watch; they just don’t appeal to me one iota – so I thought they may qualify for that reason.

The reason I hated Skyfall was b/c it was just so over-the-top and far-fetched. “Casino Royale” was the perfect blend of action, drama and romance while still feeling plausible.

I totally agree with Logan about Avatar! Fortunately I DID see it in the theater (IMAX 3D) and someone else paid for my ticket. The visuals were the only thing worth seeing in this movie. The story is basically a re-telling of the Disney animated movie “Atlantis” (seriously, it’s almost identical, right down to the mystical power source that sustains the entire civilization). And side note: I still have never even seen Titanic.